Yay thoughts! I'm glad other people love OotP, which I've gathered is unpopular for some reason? WHATEVER.
I haven't seen either DH1 or DH2 yet. I guess I will probably try to before DH2 goes out of theatres? Ha, I have just sort of been unimpressed with the last few movies and sort of fallen out of interest. /blasphemy
Re: Snape, I am outside HP fandom so I never particularly had to deal with the woobiefication of him. I think I was hoping for him to be more altruistic while reading. But in retrospect I think it is better this way. I think the point is not that Snape was a good person; but that love can be redemptive to a degree even in bad people. Snape is a bad person who Dumbledore used (like he uses everyone) for good, and is the ironic, *living* embodiment of Lily's love, which is basically the central thing that keeps Harry alive. So Snape's love for Lily means he protects Harry at all costs; that goes beyond altruism in Harry's story specifically. He describes him in the cheesy epilogue as the bravest man he's ever known, not the best.
Anyway, I like him, still, on a personal level. As I see it, he has no internal life, no friends, exactly one confidant in Dumbledore who is his boss and who dies, and he relishes playing the bitter professor and torturing people because he doesn't have the option of finding other things in his life to give him pleasure, since they would almost certainly give up the game and ruin his double agent-ness. He's in a prison of his own making, and I find that sad and touching.
no subject
I haven't seen either DH1 or DH2 yet. I guess I will probably try to before DH2 goes out of theatres? Ha, I have just sort of been unimpressed with the last few movies and sort of fallen out of interest. /blasphemy
Re: Snape, I am outside HP fandom so I never particularly had to deal with the woobiefication of him. I think I was hoping for him to be more altruistic while reading. But in retrospect I think it is better this way. I think the point is not that Snape was a good person; but that love can be redemptive to a degree even in bad people. Snape is a bad person who Dumbledore used (like he uses everyone) for good, and is the ironic, *living* embodiment of Lily's love, which is basically the central thing that keeps Harry alive. So Snape's love for Lily means he protects Harry at all costs; that goes beyond altruism in Harry's story specifically. He describes him in the cheesy epilogue as the bravest man he's ever known, not the best.
Anyway, I like him, still, on a personal level. As I see it, he has no internal life, no friends, exactly one confidant in Dumbledore who is his boss and who dies, and he relishes playing the bitter professor and torturing people because he doesn't have the option of finding other things in his life to give him pleasure, since they would almost certainly give up the game and ruin his double agent-ness. He's in a prison of his own making, and I find that sad and touching.